This short course is based on instructional materials and training exercises that were developed by Ensoft, Inc., developers of the computer software discussed in this course. The topics on design of drilled shafts are based in part on FHWA Publication FHWA-IF-99-025 Drilled Shafts: Construction Procedures and Design Methods by Michael W. O'Neill and Lymon C. Reese (1999).

The course is designed so the participants are actively involved in the learning experience. Analysis of Soil-Structure Interaction Problems Using LPile will provide foundation engineers with practical knowledge on which to base decisions concerning the analysis and design of piles and drilled shaft foundations at various levels of the foundation/design/construction process (planning, design, writing of specifications, construction monitoring, project engineering). The goal of the course is to make each participant aware of the effective use, design, and construction of deep foundations subjected to lateral loading. The participants will develop knowledge to recognize conditions in which deep foundations can be used, develop the necessary skills to design and evaluate laterally loaded deep foundations in routine situations, and be alerted to the implications of using particular design features on construction practices and inspection procedures.

About the Instructor
Dr. William Isenhower of Ensoft Inc. is the principal developer of the LPile computer program. Ensoft has applied advanced technology, much of it based on recent research, in the writing of software for the solution of complex problems that arise in geotechnical and structural engineering.

Peat could be any material between two such extremes as a coarse-fibrous matting and a jelly-like gyttja (black goo). It follows that a case record or specification for construction on peatland is of little value without a detailed description of the peat type. A creepy soil is a clayey, silty soil with high enough water content and high enough consistency limits to impart a plastic behaviour, particularly with respect to settlement characteristics. In such a soil, the volumetric rate of creep (secondary settlement, plastic creep) may equal or - in extreme cases - even exceed the volumetric rate of drainage. In such a case, excess porewater pressures will not be dissipated and the soil will appear to remain in a virtually undrained state despite the fact that water is being continuously expelled.

In a typical sedentary peat, most of the primary compression takes place during construction. Interparticle and intraparticle waters in the peat are expelled simultaneously because the peat structure is wide open at all degrees of humification. Field consolidation is considerably faster than laboratory consolidation. The main reason for this is that drainage in the field is generally three-dimensional - simply because the unloaded peat adjacent to the embankment readily separates vertically due to horizontal hydraulic fracturing.

Thin road embankments consisting of well compacted fill and underlain by a rigid layer such as corduroy or similar material can provide a bearing surface superior to that provided by considerably thicker embankments underlain by flexible fabrics.

Most if not all failures of road embankments on peatland have been found to be due to the existence of a very soft mineral soil layer underlying the peat. An understanding of the behaviour of these "non-textbook" soils is becoming increasingly important as good construction sites become less and less available and development necessarily moves to those sites having poorer soil conditions.

The morning portion on Mass Stabilization will be presented by Mikko Leppänen, of Ramboll Group.

About the Instructors:
Arvid Landva, PhD, PEng, FEIC was a Professor of Civil Engineering Development in the University of New Brunswick’s Civil Engineering graduate and research soils laboratories and field units from 1968 to 1996. Since 1990, he has served as a geotechnical consultant on various peat and MSW projects in the USA and Atlantic Canada. Dr. Landva is internationally known for his contributions to the understanding of the geotechnical characteristics of municipal waste, peat and other “non-textbook” soils. He received the 1985 Hogentogler Award from the American Society for Testing and Materials for a paper on the geotechnical behaviour of peats. He has been a member of various ASTM subcommittees including D18.07 (Soil classification), D18.14 (Waste management) and D18.18 (Peats and organic soils).

Mikko Leppänen is the Technical Director with Ramboll Finland Ltd. He received his M.Sc. in Geotechnics in 1989 from the Technical University of Helsinki and has worked with Ramboll in several positions related to geotechnics and ground improvement methods specializing in stabilization in Finland and internationally.

The objective of the course is to provide design engineers, both structural and geotechnical, with a basic understanding of how the design motions in NBCC 2010 were determined. This course is being given in a transition period between NBCC 2010 and NBCC 2015. The motions for the 2015 code are expected to be significantly different from the 2010 motions. The course will provide advanced notice of the new directions and the reasons for change. Throughout the emphasis will be on the needs of the engineer.

The following topics will be considered:

Seismicity of Canada including the craton on which the prairies rest;

Occurrence of earthquakes, their frequency and the probability that a given earthquake magnitude will occur during the life of a structure;

Ground motion prediction equations that allow us to calculate the acceleration caused by a given earthquake at a site;

How seismic hazard is determined;

Kinds of uncertainty in hazard estimation; and

aleatory due to the random nature of seismic events and epistemic uncertainty due to lack of knowledge.

It is important for engineers to understand these at a basic level.

Some basic terms will be explained that are crucial for design, response spectrum and uniform hazard spectrum. The uniform hazard spectrum (UHS) is the basis for the design spectrum in the code. By itself the UHS or a modification of it is adequate for pseudo-static design by code. However if the engineer wishes to do elastic or nonlinear analysis, he must select appropriate ground motions and scale them to reflect the same intensity of shaking as the UHS. The course will demonstrate how to select appropriate motions and how to scale them for the design under consideration.

The course will conclude with a demonstration of how site conditions affect ground motions. The code motions are only for a reference site, Site Class C. For other types of sites, the use of the code amplification will be illustrated. An alternative approach is to use site response analysis. This is the only reliable method for some sites. The requirements for reliable site response analysis will be discussed.

About the Instructor:
Dr. Liam Finn is a Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia.